Movement building happens face to face. Groups of people meet, build common visions, and organize to change the world. So what does data, such an impersonal and abstract figment of bits and bytes, have to do with regional movement building? Quite a lot!

For the last six months, a coordinated dialog has been taking place among a number of the key worker cooperative development and networking organizations in the Bay Area community, a collective initiative to lift the movement onto a higher scale, and make a truly significant regional impact. The Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives (NoBAWC) has been a participant in this process.

Unlike many alternative economic projects that have come before, solidarity economics does not seek to build a singular model of how the economy should be structured, but rather pursues a dynamic process of economic organizing in which organizations, communities, and social movements work to identify, strengthen, connect, and create democratic and liberatory means of meeting their needs. ~Ethan Miller, from Other Economies are Possible

[Editor's note: In Greece, Thessaloniki's VIOME cooperative recently celebrated their second year in operation. Like many "recovered businesses" in Latin America, VIOME has faced continuing legal threats to its existence since workers first occupied their factory. Despite the fact that the former owners stole hundreds of millions in wages from their employees—a crime for which they were found guilty— the cooperative is now being faced with a possible liquitdation order from

[Editor's note: in this important webinar, Elandria Williams and Jessica Gordon Nembhard of the US Solidarity Economy Network (SEN) host a discussion on the issues and conflicts surrounding race and colonization in the Cooperative/Solidarity Economy Movements. Presenters include Shamako Noble of Hip Hop Congress, Cecilia Martinez of the Center for E

[Editor's note: this short documentary looks at the multi-faceted company Alaffia, based in Togo, West Africa. Alaffia's three cooperatives (producing shea butter, baskets, and coconuts) provide economic independence for the women involved and fund empowerment and development projects for local communities. In the US, Alaffia's fair trade products are sold at many food co-ops and natural food stores. While the company may not be entirely cooperative (the US part of the company does not appear to be run cooperati